What did Alexander Stephens say was the cornerstone of the confederate government?

Alexander Stephens, the Vice President of the Confederacy, famously described the cornerstone of the Confederate government as the belief in the superiority of the white race and the institution of slavery. In his "Cornerstone Speech" delivered in 1861, he argued that the Confederacy was founded on the idea that African Americans were not equal to white Americans, which he claimed differentiated the Confederate government from the principles of the United States. This ideology was central to the Confederacy's identity and justification for its existence.